Installation

vacs is available for Windows, Linux and macOS.

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Before installing vacs, verify that your system meets the requirements described in the Requirements section.

Follow the steps below to download and install the latest version.

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Windows

Downloading vacs

To install vacs on Windows, follow the instructions below:

• Visit the GitHub Releases page of vacs.
• To download the latest stable version of vacs, find the release marked Latest.
• If not already done, expand the Assets Tab.
• Download the correct installer for your system. For Windows, this file has the ending _x64-setup.exe.

tip

If you don’t see your file, click Show all assets to display the complete list.

Installing vacs

Once you have downloaded the Installer, the installation process is straight-forward:

• Open the installer.
• Follow the on-screen instructions to install vacs.
• Launch vacs after the installation completes.

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You can update vacs later using the built-in updater. See the Updating section for details.

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Linux

Downloading vacs

To install vacs on Linux, follow the instructions below:

• Visit the GitHub Releases page of vacs.
• To download the latest stable version of vacs, find the release marked Latest.
• If not already done, expand the Assets Tab.
• Download the correct file for your system. For Linux, there are three options:
  • _amd64.deb - for Debian, Ubuntu, Linux Mint and other Debian-based distributions
  • x86_64.rpm - for Fedora, openSUSE, RHEL and other Red Hat-based distributions
  • _amd64.AppImage - for any other distribution, or if you would rather not install anything system-wide

Which one should I pick?

If your distribution is Debian- or Red Hat-based, prefer the .deb or .rpm. They are considerably smaller, because they share the system's existing libraries instead of shipping their own copies. Pick the AppImage if neither package fits your distribution.

tip

If you don’t see your file, click Show all assets to display the complete list.

Installing vacs

How you install vacs depends on which file you downloaded.

Debian package (.deb)

Double-click the file to open it in your desktop's software installer, or install it from a terminal:

sudo apt install ./vacs_<version>_amd64.deb

Your package manager pulls in the system libraries vacs needs. Once it finishes, vacs appears in your application menu.

RPM package (.rpm)

Double-click the file to open it in your desktop's software installer, or install it from a terminal:

sudo dnf install ./vacs-<version>-1.x86_64.rpm

As with the Debian package, dependencies are handled for you and vacs appears in your application menu afterwards.

AppImage

An AppImage is a single self-contained file - there is nothing to install. Mark it as executable and run it:

chmod +x vacs_<version>_amd64.AppImage
./vacs_<version>_amd64.AppImage

You can move it anywhere you like, for example ~/Applications. Because the AppImage carries its own copies of the libraries vacs needs, it is a much larger download than the .deb or .rpm, and it does not add itself to your application menu on its own. Tools such as Gear Lever or AppImageLauncher can do that for you if you want a menu entry.

Starting the AppImage on Wayland

On a Wayland desktop, vacs registers its push-to-talk and other global shortcuts with the desktop portal, and the portal has to know which application is asking. A packaged vacs is recognized by its menu entry. When you start the AppImage by double-clicking it in a file manager, vacs identifies itself to the portal instead, which requires xdg-desktop-portal 1.22 or newer. On an older system vacs starts normally, but its keyboard shortcuts do not work; start it from a terminal instead, or add a menu entry with one of the tools above and launch it from the menu.

note

Some minimal distributions do not ship FUSE, which AppImages use to mount themselves. If the AppImage refuses to start with a FUSE-related message, install your distribution's fuse package, or run it once with ./vacs_<version>_amd64.AppImage --appimage-extract-and-run.

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You can update vacs later using the built-in updater. See the Updating section for details.

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macOS

Downloading vacs

To install vacs on macOS, follow the instructions below:

• Visit the GitHub Releases page of vacs.
• To download the latest stable version of vacs, find the release marked Latest.
• If not already done, expand the Assets Tab.
• Download the correct installer for your system. For macOS, this file has the ending _x64.dmg (Apple Intel) or _aarch64.dmg (Apple Silicon).

tip

If you don’t see your file, click Show all assets to display the complete list.

Installing vacs

In Progress.

macOS Code Signing Notice

Our macOS releases are currently not code signed and may therefore be automatically flagged as "corrupted" by macOS.

To run the application, remove it from quarantine by executing the following command in the Terminal Application:

sudo xattr -rd com.apple.quarantine /Applications/vacs.app

info

You can update vacs later using the built-in updater. See the Updating section for details.